From Kay this morning:
If my Irish father were still alive, he’d be bursting with pride in Irish President Michael D. Higgins. As am I – for both his sentiments and because he speaks in clear full sentences and doesn’t pause for applause, something that is absent in our country today. Our public political languages are now Bumpersticker and Gasbaggery. We have no orators.
I especially like his outrage at our moral failure regarding health care.
You can have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, or democracy. But you cannot have both.
Whatever Works 
OMG, this is wonderful!
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It is indeed deliciouos.
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That was FANTASTIC!! There’s needs to be so much more of this brought forth into the public debate about the demonization of basic social services.
Thank you for posting this. Would you mind if I reblogged this on my site?
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I took it from Kay at The Fifth Column . . . go right ahead! And welcome mp.
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Well I guess I should pay homage to the original poster and reference that one shouldn’t I? 🙂
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Yup!
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Reblogged this on Mashed Potato Bulletin.
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Happy you did . . .
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I stand in ovation!
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Yeah, me too.
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Fair Play to the President of Ireland!
I’m from Ireland, lived here Los Angeles for 19 years. I have been amazed in recent years at the bull from some who no nothing about universal healthcare. I have never put a politician in charge of my medical decisions & universal healthcare puts the doctor in charge. Doctors do not like to ask the insurance company if they can do something for their patients.
While no system is perfect, people in Europe don’t lose their homes due to medical bills when a family member gets sick!
It’s wrong and it needs to change.
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Welcome biker . . . as an Irishman, you’re doubly welcome! You’re no doubt familiar with a book from a few years back by Thomas Frank, called “What’s the Matter with Kansas?”, in which he examined the startling expansion of people voting AGAINST their own best interests. And this happens because the right has successfully diverted their attention toward fear and emotion and even hate. They’ve appealed to humanity’s bases instincts, and it’s worked very well for them so we may expect a lot more.
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Actually I am not but I shall check it out, thank you!
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I especially like his outrage at our moral failure regarding health care.
I would like to ask you an earnest question.
Do you know any single person who is against an individual having access to proper health care?
I don’t know of one. Not one single person that wants people deprived of proper care. In fat, I would say that we ALL want people to have better care; all of us.
But that isn’t what this is about. Not at all. Rather, THIS is about deciding how that best medical care is accomplished. On the Left, we have the view that such medical care ought be provided to all by the labor of some. On the Right you have a different view.
So please, I beg you, please stop this nonsense that we aren’t all struggling for the same goal – we are. We simply disagree on the best way forward.
Consider a need more fundamental than proper medical care – food. Imagine that food be delivered in the same way and manner you want medical care delivered. By the government and through the government. Now contrast that delivery system of food to the method we actually utilize today. On one hand you have massive warehouses full of the freshest food from around the world complete with wines and beers, cheeses and breads. I my grocery I can get flowers and movies and fresh sushi. I get light bulbs and books and motor oil.
When other governments try to deliver food we get bread lines. Cuba rations toilet paper. Eastern Europe starved millions.
I agree with you that we need to make sure medical care is available to as many people as possible as cheap as possible. I just think that my way is better. My way allows you to shop any time, day or night, for any book ever printed -virtually- and delivered to your door in 1 or 2 days; you never have to leave you comfy cozy couch in front of your PC. The government method of book delivery results in libraries being shut down due to lack of funding.
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pino, you always deserve an earnest answer, so . . .
[So please, I beg you, please stop this nonsense that we aren’t all struggling for the same goal – we are. We simply disagree on the best way forward.]
You and I and everyone we know want everyone to have health care – of course we do. But what goes on politically isn’t a matter of different methods. It’s outright obstruction to any change in the status quo by lobbyists who have owned this issue for 50 years. One could even say we’ve been tryig for 100+ years (TR tried) – it’s time to admit we’ve failed.
Our health care dellivery model hasnt done the job and there’s no reason in the world to beleive that it’ll work on the future. There are abundant models – all over the world (not just the wealthy nations) who’ve figured it out. If we were a business – and don’t we regularly hear that gov’t should be run like a business? – we’d apply best practices to our own businesses whenever we idlentified them.
And best practices says that if we’re paying more and getting less and having worse outcomes, we’re doing it wrong.
[My way allows you to shop any time, day or night, for any book ever printed -virtually- and delivered to your door in 1 or 2 days; you never have to leave you comfy cozy couch in front of your PC. The government method of book delivery results in libraries being shut down due to lack of funding]
That’s some statement pino – May I assume that you beleivve that we – as a society, as a nation, that wants to grow and be the best we can – simply deny books to those who can’t buy them? Shall schoolchildren be required to purchase the needed reference books for their science project?. Or perhaps we assume that each one of them has theior own PC to do that job? When we choose to sacrifice books and learning in the interestss of bombs, we have again failed. Every week, I bring books from the library to my elderly neighbor. She’s an avid reader, loves history and mysteries and could not possibly afford to buy them.
As for food . . . the way we do it works. It succeeds. So fine – no need to interfere (except for lthe massive subsidies and the highways that allow distriution to that massive warehouse).
Health care doesn’t work. Time to fix it – fee for service and private insurance aren’t getting it done.
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Frédéric Bastiat said, “The worst thing that can happen to a good cause is not to be skillfully attacked, but to be ineptly defended.” Michael D. does the magic of defending his views by skillfully attacking his opponent. A refreshing four minutes of humanity.
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That ‘ineptly defended’ thing is right on. Republicans have done an absolutely brilliant job wtih messaging. Dems are, and have for some time, failed.
Our public dialogue is now conducted in “Bumpersticker”, in which language the fewest and simplest words win every time.
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Ms. Holland ,
Such a hateful little man .
” As am I – for both his sentiments and because he speaks in clear full sentences and doesn’t pause for applause, ”
I can see why you like him. He silences the opposition by shouting them down . That’s why he never pauses . Typical European left wing politician .
What he is doing is not oratory. I can do moral outrage, who can’t ? He preaches to your choir . He won’t persuade anyone who is not already in your camp .
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Hateful? Wow. I was raised Catholic, and his words are the very embodiment of what I was taught. I hear a fine and decent man. You go ahead and hear whatever you want.
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